Caribbean Merchants Bank/Jamaican Lottery SCAM SCAM, Rip Off, Don't believe them, Don't Send them any money Mandeville Jamaica

On Jan 4, 2005 I received a call from this company claiming that I had won 10.3 million dollars from an online sweepstakes. I know it may have been possible because I had paid several online lotteries and sweepstakes. The man called me 3 times. The messages kept saying that I needed to call this phone number 876-472-0784 to claim my money. I waited and called the number on Friday Jan 7th. When I called this number they answered quickly and transferred me to ext 1112. The lady that answered ext 1112 was named Amy Davis. She went on explaining how the money was tax free, asking for my DOB, asking if I would have a beneficiary, if I was married, single, devoiced, widow, and how many people lived with me. She said that she worked for an Australian sweepstake company and that I have won 10.3 million dollars. She repeatedly said congratulations. She asked how I was planning to spend the money. She then continued to say, in order to receive the check, I would need to Western Union them $795.00 to release the hold of the check due to international sweepstakes fee. I advised her that I didn't have $795.00 to send. She then said, O.K., Can you send in $400.00 and we will put you on a payment plan. And when you receive your check you can send us the balance of $395.00 plus interest. I was still very uneasy about the situation, I begged her, Please tell me if this was real. I can't afford to send this money, if this isn't true. She said, I a sure you this is true, you have won this money. I will be happy to give you the phone number to the bank that has the check and you can call them to verify that it's real. She gave me the phone number of 876-335-5085 saying this was to the Caribbean Merchants Bank. She said that I needed to give them this check number 0217 and this pin number 8957302179. I called the bank and they said there was a check for 10.3 million dollars for me and that I would need to follow the instruction giving by Amy Davis in order to receive the money.
I called Amy Davis back and asked how would I send the money by Western Union? She said in order to receive the money by 8pm tonight I would need to send the money right away. She advised me to send it attn to Lyndel Allen, address of 25 Dominica Dr, Mandeville, Jamaica, code WI (for west indies). I had sent the money at 5:21pm and called her back with the MTCN number. She then said, O.K. the money will be sent to you by Federal Express, you will receive it around 8pm. Also, I asked her if this was the only money that I needed to send to release the check and that there was no insurance charge. She said, Yes, this is all you need to send
She then called back and said, I need you to change the name that you have on the Western Union. That Lyndel Allen was in a car accident and wasn't able to pick up the money. Can you do that with in 15 minutes? She said the change the name to Mitch Troy Hemmings. I went back to the Western Union and had the name changed. I called her back and she said because it took me too long to change the name, I would need to wait and receive the check around 11am tomorrow. She said she starts work at 9am. She said she will call me in the morning before she processes anything.
On Jan 8, I called her around 9:30 am to see when the check will be sent. She said she was still working on it and that she would call me back. I waited till 11am and called her back. She was now stating that there was an error in the amount I was to pay in order to release the hold. She said that I needed to pay an additional $1200.00. I advised her that I didn't have that money. She kept saying that this little bit of money doesn't compare the amount that I will be receiving. She kept saying that she was sorry and that this was an honest mistake. That she didn't see the 1 before the $795.00 and that it should have been $1795.00 from the beginning. I again advised her that I don't have that kind of money. She then said, Can you pay $800.00 and you can pay the rest after you receive the check. I scrammed up the money to send them another $800.00 at 12:41pm. I called her back with the MTCN number. She said that I would receive the check around 5pm. She said that the check will be released from the bank, the currier will pick up the check and take it to the airport, it will be flown to Miami, it will go through customs, then Federal Express will deliver it to my address. I asked her for a Federal Express confirmation number, she said that don't release that information due to the sensitivity of the contents.
I called the bank around 1pm to see if anything was being done. The bank informed me that they received the fax from Amy Davis to release the funds. The bank the funds will be released with 45 minutes. I called that bank again around 2:30pm and they said the check was picked up about 15 minutes ago.
Well, I waited and waited. After 5pm I called Amy Davis back, but she wasn't available and to call back. I waited another half hour and called back. She then tells me that the check is in Miami, however, because of a new law dealing with over seas sweepstakes, we would now need to send $2600.00 to cover the insurance and lawyer fees. I said, WHAT!!!!!! You told me there was no other fees!!!! I was furious to say the least. Amy Davis was saying, I'm so sorry about this. This isn't my fault. It's new regulation. I'm just as upset about his as you are. But think about how much money you would be getting. I told her, Think about how muck money I would be getting? I'm thing about how I'm going to feed my son!!! Amy Davis said, Let me transfer you to my manager.
The manager came on the line saying, CONGRADULATION on your winnings.
This is what you need to do to receive your check.
She continued, The check is being held in Miami. Our lawyer flew down there 30 minutes ago. In order to get the check you would need to pay an additional $2600.00 for lawyer fees and insurance.
I told her that I don't have that kind of money. She kept saying that you will be receiving a lot more then that. And that this was a small price to pay for such large winnings. I demanded proof that the check was in Miami and that we will be willing to give the lawyer the money directly, in person.
She continued by saying the lawyer and the check are kept in a safe, secured place and that we couldn't have access to. I advised the manager again that I am not sending any more money with out proof. She then asked, What kind of proof do you need? I told her, I want to see the check showing my name on it somehow!! Send it by email if you need to. She then said, I will need to speak with the lawyer to see if we can do that. He should be landing within the hour. I will call you back after I speak with him.
While I was waiting for her to call me back, I went on the computer to see if there was any about international fees. Instead of retrieving information about that, I found a lot of information how off shore people attempt to fraud people by doing this.
After reading this I checked to see if they received the funds from the last Western Union I had sent. Thank God they didn't. I was able to change the name on the form to my sister. I wasn't able to get back the $400.00 but at least I was able to keep the $800.00.
Amy Davis called me back at 9:49pm. She said the lawyer wouldn't allow the check to be e-mailed to me, because they don't feel its safe.
Huh, I said. I told her, I know this is a fraud. Don't call me anymore. I don't believe you have a conscious. And you can take that check and shove it! Then I hung up the phone. I also didn't tell them that I changed the name on the Western Union either They'll have a surprise when they go to get the money.
It's really sad that there are relentless people scamming innocent people.
You want to believe this so badly. This was very heart breaking for my family and myself.

Lisa
Coral Springs, Florida
U.S.A.